Ayahuasca: Vine of Souls

Ayahuasca Brew

Deep in the jungles of South America (as well as the kitchens of modern psychonauts) the ego-shattering Ayahuasca brew is prepared with a wide variety of psychoactive plants.

Traditionally, each shaman has a secret recipe and no two preparations of Ayahuasca are alike. The one thing they generally have in common is a combination of an MAO-inhibitor such as Banisteriopsis caapi (Yage/Ayahuasca) or Peganum harmala (Syrian Rue) and a plant containing the powerful hallucinogen DMT. Ayahuasca vine is a necessary ingredient for a traditional brew and can be used with or without DMT admixtures.

Countless other plants can be added to the brew, such as Brugmansia, wild varieties of tobacco, passion flower, and Yerba Mate.

The effects of orally ingested DMT in combination with an MAO-inhibitor are among the most profound and intense produced by any hallucinogen. Unlike psilocybin, mescaline, and LSD which distort ones perceptions of reality at normal doses, DMT often has a dissociative effect and is capable of producing true hallucinations. Most users report it to be an unpleasant or even frightening experience.

Ayahuasca has little use as a recreational or party drug due to the intensity of the experience and the inevitable nausea it causes, but it can be an effective tool for spiritual insight and learning about altered consciousness. Some shamans believe the brew helps one visit other dimensions that truly exist but can't be reached otherwise.

The Ayahuasca brew has many health benefits in addition to the psychoactive effects. The plants used often result in vomiting and diarrhea that clears the intestinal tract of parasites, especially when used alongside the traditional fast before the ceremony. The MAO inhibitor plants are also somewhat effective in killing parasitic worms. Evidence suggests that one experience with Ayahuasca can treat long term depression or drug addictions.

DMT - A Portal to the Afterlife?

DMT in Nature

DMT is the most common psychoactive in the natural world. As opposed to more rare psychoactives like Salvinorin A or Psilocybin, found in limited sources, there are hundreds of known plant species from different families that contain DMT or related analogues, spread throughout multiple climate zones. DMT is also found in certain types of toad venom and the brains of most mammals.

Scientists are still unsure of the role DMT plays in the human body, but generally agree that it has some importance based on evolving to be naturally present in so many sources. Unfortunately, the government does not share this view and scheduled DMT in the harshest category of illegal drugs.

Because of the sheer number of DMT containing plants and sources, criminalizing them all would be next to impossible, so most natural sources remain legal.

An Important Safety Note

MAO inhibitors (P harmala, B caapi, etc) are important admixtures in Ayahuasca; oral DMT is almost completely ineffective unless taken in combination with one.

MAO inhibitors can be dangerous when combined with certain foods high in tyramine and can cause headache, nausea, or even hypertensive crisis in some people.

For your own safety, it is necessary to avoid tyramine-rich foods for at least 2 days before and after consuming Ayahuasca brew. Some people choose to fast completely, but avoiding only these particular foods will suffice as well.

MAO inhibitors can also interact badly with antidepressants and many over the counter medications. Avoid all over the counter medications before and after drinking a preparation of Ayahuasca. If you are on any prescription medications, consult a doctor beforehand to ask about potential interactions with an MAO inhibitor.

Rarely, MAO inhibitors alone can cause hypertensive episodes in people with high blood pressure. If you have this condition, you should not consume Ayahuasca.

Fluoride and your Pineal Gland

Fluoride is a compound commonly found in water and toothpaste, regulated by the FDA as a way of preventing tooth decay.

The majority of people do not have positive or negative opinions on water fluoridation, but some groups are starting to oppose it on the basis that it can severely damage the pineal gland.

The pineal gland is tiny, but one of the most important parts of the brain. Located in the deep center of the brain, it is responsible for such important functions as releasing and regulating seretonin, meletonin, and (you guessed it) DMT.

If you've ever wondered why rates of depression and insomnia in America are creeping up, here's a highly possible answer.

The pineal gland is extremely sensitive and unlike other organs, is not protected by a blood-tissue barrier. Compounds such a fluoride are readily absorbed into the pineal gland, where they can form deposits that last for years or longer and contribute to calcification over time.

When this happens, the regulation of important neurotransmitters goes haywire. Seretonin production and release is disrupted, causing severe depression among other problems. The disruption of Meletonin can cause insomnia and the inability of a person's internal clock to function properly, as well as early onset of puberty in adolescents.

Now you might be wondering about how this affects your natural DMT content.

Research has shown that DMT may be responsible for all religious experiences (including but not limited to near death and alien abduction phenomena, as well as the perceptions of a deity or God.) Some researchers go as far as saying that DMT may have been the sole influence on all the world's religions.

Perhaps by freely administering this toxic substance in the water supply, the government is denying people the ability to gain spiritual insight and draw their own conclusions about the nature of life.

But maybe that's what they want. People are easier to control and rarely "stir up trouble" when denied the ability to think for themselves and forced to blindly listen to politicians, religious leaders, and celebrities instead.

And what about the other important neurotransmitters that are affected by fluoridation? Well, it turns out to be a pretty sweet deal for the pharmaceutical companies that profit greatly from this new wave of people that rely on various antidepressants and sedatives to re-regulate their brain chemistry.

Buy Ayahuasca Plants

The Story of DMT

DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is a tryptamine derivative with an interesting history. It was first synthesized in a laboratory in 1931 by the chemist Richard Manske.

A surprise came in 1946, when DMT was also found and extracted from a natural plant source. As it turned out, this formerly synthetic chemical is naturally occuring in several species of plants such as Mimosa hostilis (Jurema), Psychotria viridis (Chacruna), and Diplopterys cabrerana (Chaliponga). A close cousin of DMT, bufotenin (5-OH-DMT), can be found in skin secretions of some toads.

But this was not the end of the surprises. Researchers eventually discovered that a small content of DMT is naturally present in the human brain. The mechanisms and effects are not understood yet, but it is thought to be released by the pineal gland and could be responsible for phenomena such as dreams, near death experiences, and alien abductions.

Psychiatrist Rick Strassman was intrigued by this theory and attempted to test it out by administering DMT to several healthy volunteers and recording their experiences.

Dr. Strassman's experiments seemed to support his theories, resulting in several common themes, most notably participants sensing an alien-like entity in the room with them or believing they had died during the experience.

DMT is currently a Schedule I controlled substance. The plants that contain DMT are not regulated and are currently legal to buy and sell in the United States.

Personal legal use of Ayahuasca plants is more ambiguous. There aren't any cases of individuals being penalized for preparing Ayahuasca for their own use, but people have gone to court over serving it to large groups of people as part of religious services. One could also get in trouble if caught extracting the scheduled active chemicals from the plant material. Large scale extraction and purification of DMT with intent to sell the end product is clearly illegal.